The enormous, clear blue dome of the sky stretched above a vast expanse of scorched wasteland. Once, during the world's adolescent ages, this may have been a seafloor, but now the only relics of that age were the occasional fossil having risen to the surface. Virtually nothing could survive in these parched flats, save the odd armored lizard or wild coyote.

A small lizard scuttled across the flats, harsh sunlight glinting off its metal scales. It paused....something was different.

WHAM!

A large explosion of dirt and rock tore up the area as a judge capsule crashed down, coincidentally enough, onto the small of the lizard's back.

Kind of makes you wonder how the ZBC staves off the environmentalist groups.

The hatch opened and a slightly decrepit Judgebot scanned the area. A few loose wires hung out the base of his neck, and the whole rig might as well have been held together with duct tape and chewing gum inside its horrendously loud Hawaiian shirt. A small brass plate on the Judgeman's head read "H530." Nobody's entirely sure where the letter came from.

Much less the shirt.

H530 broadcast to the separate teams, each due to arrive soon.

"This battle shall be between Teams -dzz- -dzz- Dawnstar and Reaper's Bounty," he began, a few sparks issuing from the loose wiring. "Please move to the designated starting location, and input team information and appropriate -wi- -wi- witty banter at this time!"

Team Vagrant crowded around a large plasma screen, watching as the judge capsule landed. The teams would arrive soon, and most of the people in the hotel bar were quite rowdy and cheerful.

Team Vagrant sat at a table all on their own. They'd been approached for autographs so much that the hotel had actually put a security officer near their table, to prevent them being harrassed. As the battle was about to start though, they weren't having any problems with fans at the current time.

"- telling you, it has to be Reaper's Bounty! They crushed us when we fought them, and Dawnstar is just barely a match for us," reasoned John as he sipped a non-alcoholic beverage, flipping through a special news edition that had the stats and blueprints and readouts on all the participants of the Royal Cup. It made for interesting reading.

"And yet, on the occassions Reaper's Bounty and Dawnstar have met, the corporate stuntmen have had their asses handed to them. Did you ever stop to think maybe we've just improved?" retorted Matt, running a gloved hand through his hair.

"How about... you shut up, watch the match, and later we'll do something fun, 'kay?" responded Nat, turning to face them, giving John rather the impressive cleavage shot. Both men fell silent.

Blaine simply watched. After last night's idea, there was one Zoid he wanted to watch.

Kyne pulled up in the Dawnstar Gustav. He was alone. He rapidly entered the data, muttering as he typed. "Kyne Xaratan, Class D pilot of Team Dawnstar, Tier C Team. Piloting Liger Zero Jaeger Mark Two."

Back in the All-Star, the rest of the Team crowded around one of the large televisions hanging in the corner. Jenny chewed her lip nervously, knowing she shouldn't have let Kyne talk her into staying behind. Sportsmanship be damned, they needed everybody they could get!
Hank, on the other hand, was quite relaxed. He and Kyne had spent the better part of last night talking things over while working with Larry on giving the Jaeger a tune-up. The machine was in prime condition, and the pilot was perfectly in synch with the machine. Dawnstar was going to win this thing easily.

Kyne was calm, cool, and collected as he strode out of the Gustav and activated the cockpit ladder. It ratcheted up out of the traction platform, stopping next to the closed cockpit. As Kyne climbed the ladder, the cockpit hatch opened to let him in. Kyne slid into the seat, activated the systems one by one. His pulse hadn't even picked up yet.
After all, it was only a King Baron. While the Jaeger's armor wasn't top of the line, its structure was plenty tough to hold its own against the Baron's awesome firepower. That, and Kyne knew a few maneuvers that would certainly help out the fight. After all, maneuverability was the key advantage he held here. The opponent had him outclassed in terms of raw firepower. Kyne opened a comms channel to his opponent, knowing the whole world could hear him.
"I could say something cliche," Kyne said, "but we've all heard it before. We'd have to. We're the best pilots on Zi. So give 'em a good show, and go down in the history of our sport as one of the finest pilots this side of Bit Cloud."

"...oh, dear. Not again..."

Liam remembered very clearly how Tamar had once again managed to total her Zoid, and shook his head as he buckled his cockpit harness. He was tempted to either forbid her from flying in combat again, or get her a Zoid with a Delta unit so that it could save itself from her antics.

But that was a debate for another time. Today...

[WEAPONS ONLINE]

[TARGETING SYSTEMS ONLINE]

[CORE POWER OUTPUT CONFIRMED]

[DETAILED DIAGNOSTIC REPORT? Y/N]

[Y]

Today, he was fighting in the semifinal round of the Royal Cup. A grin came to his face as he flexed his hands around controls that had become quite familiar to him over the course of these battles. He could still hardly believe it was real.

On the other hand, this was likely to be the end of the road. He was facing a more skillful pilot in a superior Zoid that had sustained no damage. The drive system on the King Baron seemed to be... well... mostly working. If the thing could hold on for just a few more minutes...

[TARGET ACQUIRED.]

The wireframe of the Zero Jaegar highlighted in his heads-up display as it trotted to a halt near its starting position. And there came the judgebot...

"Liam Alexander," he stated, barely able to keep a tremble of excitement out of his voice. "Piloting King Baron... with no additional modifications."

Hah, he thought. Score one for good old-fashioned bloody-mindedness. Other than the Baron upgrade, Reaper's Bounty had fought its way through several tough battles with three bone-stock Zoids, one less than any of the other teams that had even made it into the quarter-finals. The goal of the team had been completed... ACI stock was at an all-time high.

Even so-- even so, Liam was not ready to give up just yet. Whether or not he won, he'd do his best to make sure that Kyne Xaratan needed a change of undergarmets when the battle was done.

He keyed his comm, patching him through on a private frequency to Tamar and Jan -- both watching in the Reapers' Bounty Gustav. "Any suggestions? Other than avoid crashing?" he added with a snicker.

"Shaddup," Tamar growled. "It was worth it to see that thing blow up. And as for suggestions... the Zero Jaegar is stronger and faster than you are in every way. You have the advantage only in firepower, and that won't last when he closes. So..."

"I'm screwed?"

"Heck no. You just need to pull off something... artful."

"Great." Liam smacked his forehead. "That's why you're on the team, dear."

Tamar chuckled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. But... something will come to you. It always does for me."

Liam settled his sights on the Liger Zero and waited for the opening bell... and another voice came over the comm. Kyne's.

With a chuckle, Liam replied. "Aye. I would wish you good luck, but Team Dawnstar seems to make its own luck. Let's make this a good one..." He was tempted to squeeze in one last promotional bit, but-- nehhh. This battle would be all the promotion they'd need.

Blaine narrowed his eyes at the screen. Kyne had altered the Jaeger. The changes were small but to a sharp eye the physical differences were clear. Knowing Kyne and his team, it had been tweaked to within an inch of its original specs, juiced up and containing a few nasty surprises, just like Kyne himself.

With an interesting combination of thoughts, Blaine realized that the original design for the Jaeger would probably be obsolete now, at least to Team Dawnstar. Happily, he settled in to watch this battle.

In a repair bay, Ivy looked up from her welder, shutting it off and pulling back the hood. Just a bit more until her Sinker was ready for action.

"'Ey, Alex, the Royal Cup's on!"

Alex was already situated comfortably in his Malder's open cockpit with a pair of cold soft drinks and a small TV handy. He waved absently at the empty spot beside him.

"Who's fighting?" she asked, perching birdlike on the Malder's antennae.

"Captain of Dawnstar versus some team called Reaper's Bounty - they've got a King Baron," replied Alex, turning the TV to face his friend.

"What the frell's with all the Republican Zoids?" mused Ivy. "Helic came up with its last original idea about a century ago."

Alex shrugged slightly, his joints tingling. "Next team fights the Tyrant Saurers," he remarked.

"Bet that'll be good," said Ivy, grinning.

On the battlefield, the Judgeman received the information, before he blared a message, also broadcasting on all nearby frequencies.

"Information accepted.

"PILOTS of Teams Dawnstar and Reaper's Bounty, prepare yourselves for battlemode 1101-0982! The area within three kilometers is now reserved for the semifinal match of the Royal Cup. The winner will receive coordinates to the final destination."

The Judgebot paused to briefly clear his throat, whereupon a small wisp of steam issued from his shoulder.

"PILOTS, at the ready, and...

"...FIGHT!"

"And now, the time is."
Kyne couldn't help quoting an ancient movie. It's genetic. He slowly built up acceleration, taking his time as he toggled a missile lock on the King Baron. As he cruised in, accelerating up to 330 kilometers per hour, his claws started glowing, pulsating with the SLC's raw power. He left glass footsteps behind him as he charged in, juking left and right as the boosters weaved back and forth. He wasn't trying to avoid fire; he was trying to spread it around.
As Kyne closed in on the zoid, he whipped the boosters about to throw his zoid into reverse to kill speed and throw Liam off. He then kicked the boosters to the left as he leapt. Midair, he turned the boosters forwards, bounced again with the boosters going full burn, and paw-planted to cut a tight loop at the King Baron's backside. He put all the Liger's speed and weight into the paw swipe on the rump, then killed the SLC and boosters while he harried the zoid's rear end, beating the zoid with his paws whilst staying out of the way of the predominantly forward-facing weaponry. Naturally, Kyne quickly divested the zoid of any tail it enjoyed the use of, spraying it with the vulcans to keep the impact sensors ringing.

Marc stepped into Dawn’s All-Star with a rare wide grin on his face. The irony of what he was here to do was not lost on him. Even the fact that most of the people around Marc probably hated his guts didn’t seem to bother him. At least he hadn’t worn a KoO shirt this time.

“Just in time,” Marc thought as he saw the fight beginning. After the Knights had disbanded right before the Royal Cup he had put his support with Dawnstar. Rivals or not, Kyne was still a friend. He took a seat at one of the barstools with a good view and watched the match.

“Take him down Kyne,” he muttered under his breath.

Artful, artful, artful... Liam thought as the fight began. His finger stabbed down on the trigger, though oddly enough only the machinecannons were firing. An idea had begun to coalesce in his head, and it came together as the Liger Zero leaped free of the starting line towards him.

Kyne would probably be counting on the King Baron to perform significantly less well physically than the Liger Zero for his attack -- not as physically strong and definitely not as fast. Liam also figured that Kyne would subscribe to the school of 'dodge by inches' -- to not waste a huge amount of effort beyond what would be needed to evade or overcome what he expected to be facing. These thoughts all flickered through Liam's head, and though he didn't know Kyne personally, it was worth a shot. So as the Liger Zero drew closer, Liam shifted energy through the EMS to overcharge the drive systems. He was careful not to tip his hand, only shuffling with little movements to line up that softening machinecannon fire, and he was barely paying enough attention to aim that. Any moment now... any moment...

As soon as Liam saw a moment of opportunity -- such as the Liger Zero preparing for a leap on him or near him, or something of that nature -- the King Baron sprang forward with every bit of physical strength surging through its motivators that could possibly be brought to bear. He hated to think of what this might be doing for the drive system, but it was his only shot -- to body-check the Liger Zero with outstretched claws into some sort of trainwreck that would end with the majority of the King Baron's chest guns pointed at some legal portion of the Liger Zero. And with that, Liam's thumb mashed down on the second button -- the one linked to every forward weapon in the King Baron's arsenal, firing at whatever legal target they had jammed into until the Baron stalled of energy or the Liger Zero gave up the ghost.

Valen sighed, stopping in front of the television store, which had, as all televisions were at the moment, been tuned into the Royal Cup match. Valen turned towards the televisions, placing his hands into his back pockets and leaning backward, slightly. People were passing by him as he watched, and ducking his head down for the climax of the first few seconds, not watching to see what happens. He turned to leave, taking his hands from his back pockets, just in time to get nudged by someone walking by. He glanced at the man, then turned back around, and continued walking. His zoid had been destroyed, so he was currently looking for one of his own. An ex-aireal pilot, his zoid stalled in mid-air, during a battle which he had been paid to participate in, and he rode it all the way down, nearly, abandoning at the last second. He pushed the thought away, tilted his head down, and walked forward, crossing his arms at his chest.

"Y'know, I'm kind of rooting for that Baron," Ivy mentioned from her post.

"It's obvious the Liger's going to win," replied Alex, watching the Liger Zero take off with a roar of thruster exhaust. "The pilot pulled some strings and got mid-tournament repairs."

"Well, that's just plain unfair," frowned his friend, "but I'm still rooting for that Baron. Underdog syndrome, y'know."

On the battlefield, the Jaeger tore towards the Baron as millions watched, the larger and faster machine drifting this way and that while the Baron imperiously stood its ground, staring the Jaeger down while its high-powered vulcans chewed into the machine's frontal quarter. It was a good thing that Liger had such durable structure, because the armor took a respectable pounding in the short time it took for Kyne to cover the distance.

The Jaeger's racing legs tensed in their stride, as did the stoic Baron's. It was clear that both were preparing to give the viewers a show.

Then - whoosh! The Liger's boosters swung forwards as the wild-core Zoid roared into a long leap, lithely boosting to the side as the Baron tensed for a pounce. Nobody could see it but Liam, but the hum of the Baron's systems increased in volume, becoming a rough, thrumming purr.

It sprang into action, colliding nearly headon with the airborne Liger, and Kyne got an excellent view of the Baron's head colliding with his Liger's right shoulder. The larger and faster Liger had the advantage of far more momentum, and seemed to lose only a slight bit of kinetic energy as the Baron was violently driven backwards. Both Zoids' back feet made contact in the ground as the Liger drove them onward, and both gained the appearance of a pair of lions battling for dominance on their hind legs.

The Liger was caught somewhat unprepared by the Baron's sudden burst of power, enough that the much lighter Zoid was not only not bulldozed outright, but managed to shove its back feet into the dirt, ploughing up two huge furrows as it was still driven forcefully backwards.

The viewers were treated to a quick in-cockpit clip of Liam's battered visage wrapping his entire hands around the many triggers on the Baron's control yoke, before the TV cut back to an enormous light show erupting between the two Zoids as Liam's considerable firepower tore into the Liger. Liam inadvertantly activated the smoke dischargers, and a long plume of olive smog erupted from his smokestacks, streaking forwards and past the bulldozing Liger. Flashes from the inside gave it the appearance of some toxic green nebula.

The Baron's firepower was enough that Kyne, feeling some horrid shudders from his frontal quarter and the right booster, was forced to pull back a little, and the Zoids lost contact with each other. The Baron slid drunkenly backwards, finally coming to a stop at the end of its twin furrows. Both were enveloped in a dispersing cloud of green smog, but Kyne could see his Strike Laser Claw had nearly taken the Baron's entire left foreleg off, and his other had punched nastily into the machine's chest.

He didn't see, however, the smoke pouring from the remains of the sautéed missle pod on his right booster, nor the seriously compromised armor on his frontal quarter. Liam got a decent view of the Liger's damage readouts on his holographic HUD. His fire had really messed up Kyne's frontal armor and structure, and a good bit of it had gone down the right booster's intake and torn it up from the inside. Hm - not good, it still looked to be working somewhat. He had more to be concerned from in his own damage readouts; the structure had taken a severe beating from the collision and his cockpit was about five degrees hotter than normal.

Damages and positions:

Liger Zero Jaeger mkII: Kyne's doing better than his adversary; that pre-battle refit and repair really helped him weather the withering fire of the Baron's pointblank alpha-strike. His starboard missiles have been turned into melting slag; it's good that they weren't armed. His right booster's also reading pretty damaged, as is the frontal armor, but the frontal structure is still doing pretty good. He's staring down the Baron at 50 meters.

King Baron: Liam's machine is in a fairly bad way. His HHUD informs him that his right front leg is sputtering, and there's a large hole in his chest armor. Which, incidentally, is reading somewhat scorched from the point-blank fire. He's still got all of that weaponry, though, and is presently making prodigious use of it at 50 meters distance. It should be noted that the damage readouts are screaming bloody murder about what he's done to his structure and myomers, and the cockpit's a little stuffy.

Alex cocked an eyebrow, looking over to Ivy's face.

She walleyed him back, disappointed in the Baron's condition. "Don't you say a word."

"I'm just the messenger," replied Alex, ambivalently. "I don't rightly like the Jaeger much myself."

"Let's see what they'll pull next," said Ivy, adopting a pose reminiscent of The Thinker, while still perched on the antennae. "Bloody Reps."

((I guess that means that Ivy isn't aware of the fact that the Liger Zero was actually an Imperial design, but was stolen by the Republic in the prototype phase. There's a little bit of history for ya.))

Blaine stared at the TV, noting hos tough the frelling Jaeger was. It was still in relatively good nick, while the weaker Baron wasn't looking so crash hot. Personally, Blaine felt very disappointed that the Jaeger had been allowed repairs before this battle, but that was just the way things worked, he mused.

John and Matthew were squabbling again, though John was only halfhearted in his attempt to defend the Baron. Nat was just laughing at the Ligers, claiming the superiority of her Saix.

"Get out of there, Kyne . . ." Jenny anxiously chewed her lip while praying. "He can see you."
"He knows," Hank muttered. The All-Star was quiet, the only noise the metal machine music blaring over the surround sound speakers. "Believe me, he knows that machine better'n Liam."
"That's not all that much of a comfort," Jenny said, watching the Judgeman's broadcast displays of damage to their zoids. "Why didn't he counter the smoke?"
"He's not God."

Kyne ran to his left, letting the Baron smoke his flank as he turned his boosters to cut a sharp arc and ram the King Baron again. He set his boosters to full burn, bringing his speed up to 350 kilometers per hour, making use of the zoid's full agility to bring the ram square into the Baron's flank. As he came in, he left the Strike Laser Claw off. That would probably tip Liam off, if he was thinking faster than most people could. Kyne was, however, spraying the Baron with fire from his shock cannons and vulcan pods. Kyne flipped on the Jaeger's impressive sensory suite as he came in, relying upon that and any fire to trace the Baron's location, as well as other visual cues.
At least, that's what he made it look like he was doing. At the last moment his zoid flickered thrust, leapt, and thrusted again, this time at 330 km/h, bouncing off the King Baron's back and coming around for a quick swipe at the hindquarters with an uncharged paw. Less damage, sure, but more of an impact -- more structural damage. He was getting irritated at this opponent. Kyne never liked it when the opponent was able to read his moves.
"You're good, Liam. Real good."
Kyne circled around, pulling hard acceleration to come in a tight little arc and rear up, catching the Baron's neck and head in the laser sabers -- uncharged, of course -- and dismember the weaponry with charged SLC, and with the other, uncharged paw he smacked the Baron in the nose a few times to shake things up a bit. He kept motoring forwards, trying to knock the Baron over and keep it off its balance.

((Despite Nighteyes not having posted his move for three days, the semifinal of the Royal Cup is too much of a site event not to give him some leeway in this. His time has been extended indefinitely within reason. This isn't exactly a recurring thing, though, folks!))

((Grraaack, sorry. *clubs distracting things*))

Liam grimaced at the smoke. He hadn't intended on that, and it would make getting visuals a lot more difficult. The way his damage was racking up, another bout of 'artful' would be the end of the battle.

So, simple things instead. The removed right foreleg would be tipping the Baron's weight into a left turn, so Liam didn't fight it, instead using it to turn the King Baron to the side. All eight missiles from the side pod spat out into the path of the Liger Zero as closely as Liam could make it out, the frontal guns blazing away at any point they had something approaching a clear shot. No percentage in trying to make an impossible called shot; he'd settle for as much frontal structure damage against Kyne as possible.

Liam knew that the Liger would have no choice but to come in for melee; he also knew that with Kyne at the controls, he had no way of knowing exactly how that would occur. So as soon as he felt an impact from any direction, Liam let the Baron roll with it, hoping to lessen the amount of damage he'd take but also lessening his recovery time to get the Baron back on its feet -- or near enough -- and continue blazing away at the Liger Zero. Come on, booster, blow up! he silently prayed.

The Liger took off again, tearing off the line with a mixture of feline grace and -

Splutskzzzt-zotpow!

The heavily damaged right booster quit working unexpectedly, and a flash of illuminated blue gas from its exhaust port evidenced the internal capacitor banks taking the rest of the day off. The Liger Zero, thanks to its wild core, was still able to react with precision, naturally shifting its weight to favor the left booster unit. Kyne's nearly indecipherable move was really wasted on the ignorant - Liam was too out of it to really anticipate anything.

He wasn't, however, too out of it to quit holding down all the triggers and grin like an idiot. He could see his firepower continue slamming into the Liger, raking across its chest, over the shoulder, and holding for a split second on the flank before it dropped just outside his crosshairs.

The television cameras didn't miss the really cool visual of several tons of dirt being thrashed into plumes of khaki powder where the Liger had just been. The Flame Beam cannon was a camera favorite.

Liam juked right on his control yoke, still spraying fire everywhere. The Liger barely crossed into his crosshairs before-

- zah?

It leaped.

Liam's momentum to his right carried him right into the path of the airborne Liger, and Kyne's plan went into effect a little early. His Zoid, the Liger Zero, managed to lengthen its leap just a bit to sail mostly over the Baron, using its momentum to slam the back legs into the rectangular docking port on the older machine's back and gain purchase, completing its leap and shoving the limply-piloted Baron nearly off its feet.

Liam's plan to "roll with it" didn't work out too well. His structure sensors were still bleeping resignedly at him despite the fact they knew he wasn't listening. And that front right leg was quite a bit more damaged than he thought. A new light blinked on the hip sensor, indicating something he was a little too preoccupied to really take in at the moment.

The Liger Zero landed gracefully a few dozen meters off to his left as his Baron crashed hard on its right side. Mercifully, the weaponry was still looking relatively undamaged on his displays, and the smoke had thinned to nearly negligible levels.

Kyne turned his Liger Zero around and took a split second to savor the view of his enemy, smoking and bruised, on its side. With, if his objective scanners were correct, a nearly deadened right foreleg.

This was really quite easy.

Damages and positions:

Liger Zero Jaeger mkII: Adios, right booster. Turns out the damage was more intense than it appeared, and shunting more power to it just blew the thing right out. The booster unit's still there, attached, and moveable, but it's like a bottle rocket with the propellant inside all burnt-up and spent. Other than that, Kyne's not really noticing any real performance drops.

King Baron: Liam had an interesting plan this round, but due to the nature of Kyne's own plan, it turned out to work against him. His damage reports are still screaming and flailing at him, and the right foreleg looks to have most of its damage concentrated at the hip. He didn't really accrue much more damage this round, but is now in a fairly awkward position. He did, however, get a really excellent view of the hell he wrought on the Liger with his weaponry.

"Come on! Shoot him! No, don't bloody stagger like that, that's exactly what he wants you to - damn!"

Alex looked up at Ivy, who had worked herself all the way up to a precarious perch on the end of the antennae. Somehow, she managed to balance herself there and flail at the television without flying off the Malder.

Alex furrowed his brow and continued watching. He could see a pretty viable move for the Baron, and all Liam had to do was realize it...

((And yeah, Orpheus, she doesn't realize the Liger Zero was an Imperial design because frankly, I didn't know that. I figure that a piece of info like that would be incredibly obscure by now, considering all the wars and the history that's taken place in the meantime.))

((I'm good with obscure Zi history. I didn't think you knew about it.))

Matthew stood up triumphantly, pointing at the screen.

"That, John my man, is me being 100% correct!" he declared. John simply grunted and continued to watch with interest. Nat settled down and plonked next to him, stealing his beer swiftly. He didn't even notice.

Blaine watched the TV, tabbing up probable prices in his head.

Hiro caught the fist as he threw his weight to the right. He took a step forward, bringing the man's left fist acrossed the man's chest. Spinning behind the man's back, he jerked the arm backward, causing the man to lean backward a bit. Hiro brought his elbow down into the man's chest, and jumped back, raising his foot into the air. As the man crashed to the ground with a loud thump, Hiro pulled his foot down quickly. He paused, his bare foot a mere inch from the man's chest.

"Now, that is a simple take-down technique against a jab, or straight punch. Those, are two of the most common punches from common people." He pulled his foot away, reached down, and grabbing the man's arm, "Are you okay?" He asked, pulling him up.

The man rubbed his shoulder, moving it around in a circle, "Peachy." He smirked, Hiro chuckled, and a few of the other men and women joined in.

"That is it for class today." He said, putting his right fist in his left hand, and bowing.

He turned on the television, while rummaging through the closet, grabbing a mop, and bucket. He filled the bucket peering up at the television, watching the Royal Cup Semi-Finals.

"Hmm...Nice Zoids." he murmured, pulling the bucket from under the facet. He placed it beside the wrestling mat, and started mopping. Once finished, he put them back in the closet, and turned on a fan, to dry it.

Hiro walked to his belongings, pulling out a plain katana. He unsheathed the sword, taking a moment to look at the shine coming from it, and noticed the battle reached one of the many climatic points.

Stepping out to the center of the mat, while it was still drying, the fan blowing his hair, shirt, and pants, to the right. He made a vertical swipe up, then twisted his wrists, and brough it back down. Once it was down, he threw his fists forward, which would hit a normal man's chest, and rolled to the right, bringing his blade diagonally up. He continued his training, watching the television at the same time.

On his side? Side facing the Liger Zero? That meant only one thing. Liam's thumb stabbed down on the button to launch every missile on that side in rapid-fire succession, doing his best to tilt the body enough so that they'd actually hit something. Praying that the missiles were enough to knock the Zero around for a bit, Liam then hauled his front around to face Kyne's Zoid and fired every weapon without care for overheat or energy expendiature for as long as he could, aiming for the most damaged area.

"Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"
Kyne felt that thrill of victory, knowing his zoid could take the heat for the few seconds it would take him to get in there and finish the enemy off. He ran around in a tight arc, coming in on the King Baron's left flank. The Jaeger pounced, Strike Laser Claw glowing, and thrust both forepaws into the Baron's relatively soft and squishy flank. It would then stretch, catlike, and pull the paws out to bat about the Baron's left leg for maximized pain to the enemy zoid.

Ivy bit her knuckles, perched on tiptoe on the end of the Malder's antennae. "C'mon...c'mon, take that smug sonuvabitch down!"

"How d'you know he's smug?"

Ivy paused for a bit, then regained the wind in her sails. "He pilots a damn Liger Zero. Makes people smug."

Brief glance from Alex.

"...and that's what I'm sticking by, metalhead. C'mon, Baron..."

If anything, Ivy was disappointed at first, when the Liger was out of there like a wraith. A quartet of missiles spun out of the Baron's side before Liam apparently realized he was shooting air, attempting to get up and face the Liger.

The Jaeger flitted smoothly around the Baron's rear, apparently oblivious to the damage it had taken. The cameras really took in the smoke pouring from the wrecked booster engine as well as a few showers of sparks that periodically erupted from the front knees and hips.

The Liger came in for the kill as the Baron put weight on its bad leg...

...and then things went straight to Hell in a handbasket. The Baron lurched painfully, no doubt throwing Liam around like a ragdoll in his cockpit. The bad leg spun the Baron around to face the oncoming Liger, and with a thunderous crash, the Zoids collided.

The Baron was shoved forcefully backwards for a brief instant before Liam carried out the rest of his plan. A tremendous blast of light and heat rattled the cameras on their mountings as the Baron cut loose with everything at its disposal. Huge wumps of heat shimmered in the air between the Zoids as the camera cut to an "Oh, shit" expression adorning Kyne's face. Well, as close as Kyne would probably ever get to one, at least.

"KILL 'IM, you bloody bastard!" yelled Ivy, perched on one foot and howling at the television.

This was the Baron's last stand, but the cameras were having trouble taking it in. Smoke and steam erupted from the breeches of the weapons and every joint of the machine, sparks flew as if a welder was perched on every moving part. The Baron itself seemed to sense the urgency, and the temperature skyrocketed in Liam's cockpit as his craft sent more and more power to the weapons and drive. The smoke was thick enough to begin obscuring both Zoids, and occasionally an orange or blue flash would signal a burst component. The screen displayed small in-cockpit shots of Liam and Kyne getting thrown around, accompanied by the thunder of high-caliber weaponry tearing into armor.

A terrific roar issued from the Liger Zero Jaeger as its wild core peaked with bloodlust, and its remaining booster flared to life. Its damaged one began emitting a colossal stream of sparks burning tiny holes into the rear hip of the Jaeger armor. Both Zoids shook from the pointblank explosions of the powerful shock cannon, before -

BOOM!

- the missiles cooked off. A colossal explosion engulfed both Zoids as the missiles went up all around, ripping through the smoke and throwing a visible shockwave out to twenty meters, tearing up the ground and leaving it broken into slabs of parched sod.

The silhouettes of the two lion-type Zoids lay still in the cloud of dust and smoke. Sparks still poured from every joint and low fires smouldered in the wake of the ammunition cook-off.

A charred, blackened lion shuddered slightly, then rose to its feet. It moved jerkily, mechanically, favoring its left front leg. Almost like its right foreleg had been horribly mauled. It sported neither boosters nor blades, and nearly all projectile weaponry had been taken straight off.

It roared, a hacking gurgle with enough bass behind it to still be formidable.

It was the Liger Zero Jaeger.

"The battle is over...the battle is over! The winner is Kyne Xaratan, representing the STORM RI - er, wait, my bad -" at this, Judgeman H530 straightened a pair of reading glasses extracted from its front pocket - "TEAM DAWNSTAR!"

Rank Adjustments:

Kyne Xaratan: +1 Kill
Team Dawnstar: +1 Win

Liam Alexander: +1 Loss
Team Reaper's Bounty: +1 Loss

Post-battle inspections:

Liger Zero Jaeger: The pre-battle refit and repair really helped this zoid. In fact, it made the difference between winning and losing. Both booster engines are dead, one suffering a capacitor rupture and explosion, the other wrecked first from overheating and enemy fire, then the missiles next to it cooking off. Be glad they weren't armed. The armor looks like clay that's melted then hardened back into place, and the structure's just full of gaping wounds leaking fluid everywhere. The head's torn up something awful, and the vulcan ammo was damn near about to cook off itself. It'll require Heavy repairs to fix all this.

King Baron: This beat-up Zoid gave a good account of itself, and damn near killed itself trying to take out the Jaeger. The Jaeger's front claws were messily extracted from its chest, having punctured a few fairly important conduits running from the core. One of the claws actually glanced off the core itself, leaving a gouge on the shielding. The exterior looks like every powered component exploded simulteneously. A few of the energy weapons overloaded and exploded in flashes of blue liquid energy, and the lasers are burnt out completely. The Flame Beam mounting looks like a slag volcano, and the front right leg is hanging on by a thread. This zoid literally burnt itself out in a mad attempt to kill the Jaeger. Almost got there, too. Since basically every powered component will have to be replaced, and the structure will need work, and basically the only thing that survived is the core and cockpit, the Baron will require Overhaul-class repairs after a hard-fought battle.

Liam Alexander will require one day of hospital time thanks to a case of heat stroke incurred when the cockpit flashed into near oven-like temperatures and held there for a few seconds.

An excellent and well-fought battle. Congratulations to both of the brave pilots participating.